CINCINNATI — On Tuesday night, the Hamilton County Commission on Women & Girls celebrated by welcoming a new group of ladies to keep its mission alive.
Hamilton County Commissioner Denise Driehaus was the first woman elected to the Board of Commissioners in 2016. She began the Hamilton County Commission on Women & Girls after hearing community concerns when campaigning.
“I heard a lot from women in particular and girls who said, ‘We don't feel heard at the county. We don't feel like our issues are being addressed,’” Driehaus said.
Now, the commission is adding a group of diverse women and girls, to search for solutions in their own communities.
“What the commission does is from August to May they spend the time identifying what those needs are, doing community interviews to better understand what those needs are,” said Mary Maune, program coordinator for the Hamilton County Commission on Women & Girls.
From there, the commission then writes policy for local and even state governments with the hopes to start creating permanent solutions.
“We were influential in getting a state law passed where every school in the state of Ohio, both private and public, have to have access to free period products in their schools,” Driehaus said.
And one of their newest possible solutions?
“A girls court, which designs more wellness treatments instead of going straight into juvenile detention centers,” said Eleanor, a student alumni of the Hamilton County Commission on Women & Girls. “So it's more like the lawyers are women, the judge is a woman, it's run by women for women, and it can more directly target girls.”
The commission said that the girls court is working in other states, and it has a zero percent recidivism rate.
“If we can address what those traumas are, or their basic needs, such as housing instability or mental health support, if we can address those then ultimately, we can potentially stop them from coming back,” Maune said.
Girls court is still being designed in Hamilton County, but Maune said the hope is to have the court up and running by the end of the year.
